Presentation held to mark Stratton Community Hospital as Veteran Aware
Stratton Community Hospital is Veteran Aware. A plaque to mark its status was unveiled on Tuesday.
In June it was announced that the Trust had been re-accredited as Veteran Aware. This was by the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA). We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces community.
To achieve this, we have implemented a range of initiatives. This is to improve support for patients from the Armed Forces community.
Veteran Aware status means that those from the Armed Forces community have access to healthcare. The aim is to raise standards and improve access to support for veterans. This supports NHS and independent healthcare providers to uphold the Armed Forces Covenant. This is now enshrined in law through the Armed Forces Act (2021).
The covenant is the nation's promise to the Armed forces community. They will be supported when they need to be. Support can range from medical care, employment, education, or housing.
On Tuesday, a plaque was unveiled by veteran Steve Hayes at Stratton Community Hospital. Chief medical officer Adrian then spoke about how important it was to be Veteran Aware. He says:
"It is about getting people (from the Trust) trained and aware so that we can achieve veterans' awareness as a hospital. This means that when people come in for care of any kind, they'll be asked 'have you served?'
"There's an opportunity for people to get care and support they may not have known that they were entitled to.
"It's important that that we, as the NHS and Trust, live up to veteran awareness status. We have to keep spreading this awareness across all our community hospitals. Make it something that we do as our day-to-day business."
Also in attendance were veterans Pete Leatherbarrow and Sharon Wilton. Pete served for his country and is now a minor injuries practitioner at Stratton. Sharon, who served in Basra, is a progress co-ordinator at Stratton and Launceston Community Hospital.
Stratton is the latest hospital to be awarded Veteran Aware status. Helston Community Hospital and Camborne Redruth Community Hospital are also Veteran Aware. Newquay Community Hospital and Falmouth Community Hospital are also due to receive their Veteran Aware accreditation in the coming months.